Umbraca
by phoenixsp
Summary: An ancient creature is spotted on the Hogwarts' grounds, and it's after Hermione. A bit of R/H. R&R!
1. Creature

Umbraca  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. J.K. owns everything. All hail J.K., the creator of that wonderful Ron! Wow, I need a life.  
  
Chapter One: Creature  
  
The moon was shining brightly down on the Hogwarts campus, and it reflected off of the lake, making the grounds serenely lit. No one was outside, so it was eerily quiet, and as Hermione walked away from the front doors of the school, she became paranoid.  
  
"Alright, Granger, you are going to stop imagining things. You are a sane witch who is fully capable of protecting herself from anything you may encounter!"  
  
She talked to herself, trying to calm her nerves as she made her way to the Forbidden Forest.  
  
"Stupid Harry and Ron always have to send ME to do their dirty work. 'Oh, could you go get the willow-weed Hermione? You're soooo smart, and if we went to go get it, we would probably get the wrong plant.' Buggering, stupid, moronic, blubbering gits.idiotic prats.they should just go scr-."  
  
"Couldn't have described us better ourselves."  
  
Hermione jumped and bit back a shriek of surprise as she heard Ron's voice. She turned around and scowled at Harry and Ron.  
  
"Ugh. Just follow me. Words are useless when arguing with you prats."  
  
The boys just shrugged and walked after Hermione.  
  
After several minutes, the three 7th years stopped in front of a tangle of weed-like plants. Hermione knelt on the cushiony, grass-covered ground.  
  
"This is it. According to the ingredient list, we need five separate roots to chop up." She pulled at a few plants and handed them to Harry and Ron. "Now, we're done!"  
  
She smiled cheerfully, obviously happy that the task had been finished quickly. The grin disappeared as she noticed something dashing from tree-to-tree nearby. Ron became worried by the look on her face, and he jabbed Harry in the side.  
  
"Hermione? What's wrong?"  
  
She ignored Harry for a second as she followed the shadow of creature with her eyes. It came closer and closer to her, and it abruptly stopped behind the bush of willow-weeds, still immersed completely in darkness. Due to the moon being directly behind the three students, their shadows were in front of them, close to the creature. But Hermione's was the closest. The beast lunged at Hermione, but stopped where her shadow began - its indistinguishable head tilting to the side, as if pondering what to do next. Its hand reached out for the shadow as it crouched on the ground, and Hermione found it hard to breathe. She looked at Harry and Ron, and they were apparently frozen to where they stood just like her. It drew nearer to where her heart would be in the shadow form of herself, and she suddenly couldn't breathe at all. The last thing she heard as she was enveloped in darkness was Ron's shout as he caught her. 


	2. A Plan

Chapter 2: A Plan  
  
Hermione awoke in an unfamiliar place. Her head was swimming, and when she opened her eyes, she shut them just as quickly as bright light blinded her. She had no recollection of going to bed, or falling asleep at all. Just a sensation of being suffocated. She tried to move, but something prevented her from doing so. A rough hand brushed across her cheek tenderly, and she heard a voice speaking to her.  
  
"Shhh. Hermione, you're safe now. Everything is alright. You're in the infirmary."  
  
She slowly re-opened her eyes, and she saw Ron's face not far from hers. All of her memories from the night before flooded her mind, and she embraced Ron tightly. "What happened?"  
  
His face showed his concern. "You mean you don't remember anything?"  
  
She shook her head in reply. "No, the last things I remember were being suffocated and darkness." She thought for a moment and continued. "And you shouting and catching me. Nothing else."  
  
"Well, Madame Pomfrey was hoping that you would be able to recall what attacked you so we could look it up."  
  
Hermione's eyes widened, and she bolted out of her bed. She then realized that she was in her pajamas.  
  
"Um. Ron? Who changed my clothes?" She was terrified at the idea of Harry or Ron seeing her without anything covering her. "Where is Harry anyway?"  
  
"We asked Ginny to change you out of your uniform, and Harry is in the library, writing down anything he remembers and looking it up."  
  
"Well, let's join him. I'll change quickly. Wait for me outside."  
  
Ron did as he was told, and he was almost immediately joined by Hermione. They made their way to the library and found Harry in the middle of huge stacks of books.  
  
"Need some help there?" Hermione thought she would never see the day when Harry would voluntarily research something more complicated than flobberworms.  
  
Harry grinned as he saw his two friends and picked her off the ground in a warm hug. "How're you feeling?"  
  
"Wonderful, just wonderful. Now, let me help you with this. I think I can recall enough about that creature to do some good."  
  
An hour after they all sat down, completely into the books, Hermione found something.  
  
"Of course!"  
  
Both Harry's and Ron's eyes focused on her as they questioned what she meant.  
  
"We learned about them last year! Well, it was only a brief mention and description actually, but I found out what that thing was!"  
  
Ron prodded her to continue, so she did.  
  
"An umbraca is a fabled creature of ancient wizard legend. It was considered to be just a fictional creature until about 200 years ago, when Silvestry the Stupid, a goblin explorer, uncovered a nest of umbracas. They are fierce, evil creatures who use witches and wizards' shadows to kill him or her. They then trap the shadows as a source of energy, much like food, discarding the body to rot. The victims are often random, but some of them are chosen because of their role in the umbraca's human past. Also, victims end up either of two ways. The umbraca can either kill the witch or wizard, or due to possibly recognizing traits of itself in the victim, can turn the human into an umbraca. If the victim was to escape, the umbraca would continue to pursue him or her until the victim faces either of two fates as stated previously."  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were silent for a few minutes until Harry spoke nervously, his voice shaking.  
  
"So that umbraca will keep after you until you die?"  
  
"Well, the book also says that the only way for an umbraca to stop chasing its potential victim, the victim must have died."  
  
"You can't just die, Hermione!" Ron was visibly distraught.  
  
"I don't have to die. Not permanently, anyway."  
  
"What do you mean, 'not permanently?' Death is always permanent. You don't just come back from the other side once you go there!"  
  
"I can if someone resuscitates me." Hermione spoke very calmly and put her hand on Ron's comfortingly, and smiled reassuringly at Harry.  
  
"So you're just gonna kill yourself?"  
  
Hermione frowned as she thought. She jumped up from her seat and headed for the door. "Meet me at the lake tonight at 12:00." Before either of the boys could reply, she left.  
  
(A/N: I got the name "Umbraca" from Latin 'umbra' and 'casses', meaning shadow and snare. As in 'trappers of shadows, get it? Got it? Good.) 


	3. Realizations

Chapter 3: Realizations  
  
*Flashback*  
  
Hermione was walking down the girls' dorm stairs, approaching the common room where someone was waiting for her. As she turned the dim corner of the staircase, she recognized the dark-haired and tall young man seated on the couch: Victor. She dreaded what she knew she had to do, but she remained strong, as she would be expected to be as a Gryffindor.  
  
"Victor, it's great to see you!" She ran into his arms, but ended the embrace quickly as she noticed something strange about the common room. It was empty. "Why isn't anyone here?"  
  
Victor seemed uncharacteristically nervous, and he kept putting his hand into his robe's right pocket. "Herm-own-ninny, I wanted us to be alone."  
  
She had to stop herself from wincing at Victor's pronunciation of her name. She once thought it was endearing, but now it just got on her nerves.  
  
"So did I." 'But most likely for a different reason.'  
  
"Ninny, we've been together for two years now, ever since your fourth year." He smiled adoringly at her, and she smiled back, as much as she didn't want to. "And I was thinking that maybe, after you graduate next year," he paused as he knelt down on one knee, "we could get married? I love you so much, Herm-own-ninny. Please, will you marry me?"  
  
Hermione was in shock. "I - you - we - well, Victor, the reason why I wanted us to be alone was very different from yours. I figured that it was time for us to take a break from each other. Maybe not permanently, but just long enough for me to sort out my feelings." 'Yeah, feelings for Ron, not you.'  
  
"I always knew something else was going on between you and - him."  
  
'Oh, crap, I said that out loud?"  
  
"Yes, you did."  
  
'SHUT UP, HERMIONE!' She was now so embarrassed that she was yelling at herself in her mind to stop saying her thoughts to Victor.  
  
"Victor, I'm sorry, but I can't marry you. At least not now. Give me time."  
  
"Of course, Ninny. But I just want you to know that I will love you always, and I want to spend forever with you. Don't forget that." In an instant after he said those words, he was gone.  
  
************************  
  
Hermione awoke with a start, jumping from her bed in the Head Girl's dormitory immediately.  
  
"Okay, it's 11:50. Just enough time to get to the lake."  
  
After muttering a silence spell on her shoes, she began her journey to the lake, hoping that Harry and Ron would be able to get there unnoticed.  
  
She arrived there 8 minutes later, and neither Harry nor Ron was in sight. Her thoughts wandered to the dream she had had just minutes before.  
  
"I can't say that I don't miss him." She closed her eyes as she recalled her vivid memories of their break-up and his death. He had died right in front of her, murdered by some creature that refused to go into light. It had killed Victor swiftly, Krum's shadow disappearing as he fell to the ground, his body then taken by the creature as well. Hermione's eyes widened yet again as she realized that she had not picked up on something so obvious. "The creature was an umbraca, and they only take the body when they want to change the person into one of them. Victor is an umbraca."  
  
**************************  
  
Five minutes later, Harry and Ron arrived, meeting a wild-eyed Hermione.  
  
"Mione? Are you alright?" Ron was nervous about Hermione's nutty-professor appearance. She was pacing and running her hands through her untamed hair. She only did that when she was paranoid or had just discovered something.  
  
"I'm more than alright. Victor was taken by an umbraca."  
  
"What does Vicky have to do with this?" Harry quickly silenced Ron with a swift jab to his ribcage.  
  
"He didn't die, after all! He was turned into an umbraca, and now he's after me. He wants to make me like him," she stopped speaking as she realized the reason for Victor's desire to make her an umbraca, and her suddenly grief-stricken face began to worry Ron and Harry. "- so we can spend eternity together. Umbracas are immortal." 


	4. Guys?

Chapter 4: Guys?  
  
Harry and Ron looked confused for a few minutes, but eventually realized what Hermione was saying.  
  
"So he wants you as, like, his umbraca bride?" Ron was disgusted with the thought of his Hermione becoming one of those monsters. 'She's not my Hermione. I make it sound like she's my girlfriend or something. Wishful thinking.'  
  
"Something along those lines."  
  
"Wait. Why are we here anyway?" Harry was increasingly annoyed at the fact that he had no idea why they were outside where umbracas could get them.  
  
"I need to die for Victor to give up on me, remember?"  
  
"And one of us has to resuscitate you." Ron finished her thought, receiving a half-hearted smile from Hermione.  
  
"And I thought you never listened to me."  
  
"You never asked me if I did."  
  
Harry quickly became fed up with his friends' obvious flirting. "So how are you supposed to just die?"  
  
"I drown. It's as simple as that. Then Ron - or you, Harry - can do CPR on me." 'I'd prefer Ron to do it, though.'  
  
Ron's eyes suddenly widened, and Harry began to snicker. "Huh?"  
  
"I said that out loud?" 'GREAT. Here I go again.'  
  
"Um - yeah, you did. And what do you mean 'again'?"  
  
Hermione turned bright red as she realized that everything she was thinking ended up spoken.  
  
"Nevermind. We need to focus on killing me."  
  
"If we had to do this in third year, I would have been more than happy to do it; but now, I'm not too sure about the whole death-then-revival deal."  
  
"Ron, just leave the dying up to me. After I've been under the water for about 5 minutes, and you see I've stopped moving, pull me out and give me mouth-to-mouth." She unintentionally looked at Ron when saying 'mouth-to- mouth', so she ended up making his face the color of his hair.  
  
After both Ron and Harry gave nods of acceptance, Hermione swam a few feet into the lake and dove. The waiting was unbearable as Ron frequently pulled out his watch, checking the time. As soon as five minutes were up, he dove into the lake, and sought out Hermione. What he found was immensely startling. A group of grindylows surrounded the unconscious Hermione; apparently fighting over what piece of her each would get to eat. Ron retrieved his wand and blasted stunning spells at them, hoping to get to Hermione and pull her out of the water safely. His spell thankfully worked, and he tugged her toward the surface. As they approached Harry, he ran out to help Ron carry Hermione to the grass. Ron immediately began giving her CPR, and Harry paced nervously. A minute or so later, Hermione was sputtering out water.  
  
"Thanks Ron."  
  
He suddenly became embarrassed as he realized that he had sort-of kissed Hermione.  
  
"Anytime."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Of cour-"  
  
At that point, Harry had to look away to keep his stomach intact as Hermione practically jumped his best friend, the two obviously beginning to snog.  
  
"Um, guys?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Ron?"  
  
A muffled 'yeah?'  
  
"I'm ready to hurl if you two don't cut it out. I don't mean to sound unhappy for you two, because I am really happy for you, but please stop. Really."  
  
Silence.  
  
"Ron?"  
  
No answer yet again.  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Guys?"  
  
No answer what-so-ever.  
  
He turned around slowly and saw his two friends asleep in each others' arms.  
  
"Don't mean to interrupt such a touching moment and some much-needed sleep, but WAKE UP!"  
  
Ron and Hermione jumped up and gave Harry a dirty look. "Well, we might as well go back to the castle. We've done what needed to be done."  
  
"I quite agree, Ron." Hermione gave Ron a bright smile.  
  
Harry turned around, leading the love-sick couple back to the castle, trying to ignore a chorus of "I love you" "No, I love you more" "How can you love me more? I love you more than anything on the planet."  
  
"Ugh."  
  
Harry chuckled, and Ron and Hermione held hands, but none of them noticed the dark shadow following them. 


	5. Facing A Fear

Chapter 5: Facing a Fear  
  
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great hall, Hermione felt a faint breeze. She traced it back to the dark passageway that led to the Slytherin common rooms. Figuring she had nothing to worry about anymore, Hermione ignored the feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong.  
  
Harry left Hermione and Ron alone in the common room while he changed into pajamas, expecting them to do the same. Hermione changed into dry clothes; Ron followed Harry into the boys' dormitory after sneaking a brief kiss from Hermione, even though the three had agreed to meet in the empty room again after changing.  
  
The three did as they had arranged and spent a few minutes talking until Harry noticed a shadow jumping from window to window outside, apparently searching for an entrance. It soon found one, and jumped into a dark corner of the room. By then, Harry had alerted Ron and Hermione of its presence.  
  
"Harry, is that Victor?" Hermione was visibly distressed at the fact that her plan hadn't worked.  
  
"I think it is, Hermione."  
  
"I thought it was supposed to stop chasing you after you died."  
  
"Ron, say 'he' not 'it!'" her reprimanding tone vanished as a nervous one took its place. "And I think my fear about that plan has just been realized. The idea of an umbraca stopping the chase of its victim after he or she dies only applies to normal circumstances. My case is far from normal."  
  
Hermione carefully kept an eye on Victor, meanwhile pondering how to get rid of him without hurting him. Before she could think any longer, Krum emerged from the shadows. None of them had ever seen an umbraca is true light, so what they saw this time startled them. With cracked gray/brown skin, black eyes, and a crimson-red head of hair, the umbraca held almost no resemblance to the wizard it once was. Yet Hermione saw that the hideous, crouching figure was Victor on the inside; she knew that he had come for her. She also knew that she couldn't let him take her. She had only one choice.  
  
"Herm-own-ninny?" The voice that came from the creature's mouth was similar to Victor's, but the sound of it was like several people talking at once.  
  
"I can't go with you Victor." Her voice was said, yet strong. Harry and Ron stayed quiet, observing Hermione's hand slowly reaching into her robe pocket.  
  
"You have no choice in the matter." The smooth, crisp voice held a cruel tone. However, it quickly turned kind. "You must come with me of your own free will, or by force. The easier way is the former."  
  
"No, Victor. Leave." Hermione became defiant, not wanting to hurt Victor's feelings, but realizing that kind words would not help her.  
  
"Then you choose to come by force." He then lunged at Hermione, ready to carry her off to the forest. However, he stopped moving just as he reached her. Harry and Ron had no idea why. They rushed over to Hermione and Victor as he fell to the floor, lifeless; exposing the blood-covered knife that Hermione held in her hand.  
  
"I didn't want it to come to this, but I carried this just in case," Hermione's face was expressionless, but her eyes showed a mix of sadness and shock at what she had just done.  
  
Ron and Harry, meanwhile, were completely puzzled.  
  
"I thought you said umbracas were immortal."  
  
"I left out a paragraph when I was reading the text to you. Umbracas can be killed only by a ceremonial knife wrought by the victim or someone close to the victim. I didn't want you two to put yourselves in danger."  
  
Ron approached Hermione cautiously, as if afraid she would lash out at him, and he embraced her warmly, hoping to comfort her. As she hugged him back, she whispered with a cracked voice, "I didn't want to kill him."  
  
Harry then joined the hug, and tried to comfort her as well, knowing how upset she must be.  
  
"You did what you had to do, Hermione."  
  
She only responded by sobbing unlike she had during Victor's empty-casket funeral. Ron gently patted her back, saying something he had wanted to say ever since the whole ordeal started.  
  
"It's over, Hermione. It's all over." 


End file.
